Jubal Troop (Glenn Ford) is an honest, well-intentioned cowhand who has come into town looking for work. When he is injured in a riding accident, rancher Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine) offers him a job tending horses, but before long trouble is brewing and Morgan's coquettish wife, Mae (Valerie French) falls for Jubal. The dubious cowhand Pinky (Rod Steiger) won't stand for Jubal stealing Mae's attention away from him. He slyly convinces Shep that the well-behaved Jubal is sleeping with Mae and sends the whole Horgan ranch into an uproar.